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One explanation I've heard for this shortcoming is that psychology is almost fully focused on pathology, i.e. studying disease. So it's rarely going to give a g

One explanation I've heard for this shortcoming is that psychology is almost fully focused on pathology, i.e. studying disease. So it's rarely going to give a good accounting of what happens in healthy populations. Difficult to see this changing, as happy, healthy people aren't going to pay for therapy, institutionalization or medication... well, unless you convince them that they're actually unhealthy.

lioeters 5y ago
> psychology is almost fully focused on pathology The study of "positive psychology" was conceived to address this shortcoming. However, I'm not sure how much it has influenced/improved the field of psychology as a whole. > Positive psychology began as a new domain of psychology in 1998 when Martin Seligman chose it as the theme for his term as president of the American Psychological Association. > It is a reaction against past practices, which have tended to focus on mental illness and emphasized maladaptive behavior and negative thinking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychology